On The Road Again
A pause for thought - Mandrill at the Phoenix Zoo
by John Weckerle
Last weekend the entire population of New Mexico Central headquarters took a road trip to see relatives in Apache Junction, Arizona, which is part of the Phoenix metropolitan area. Surprisingly, only one day of our stay was very hot, with the other two days topping out at 90 degrees or below. Senior Travel Correspondent Wilson was very excited about the sights, sounds, and smells of the suburban setting we visited, and made plenty of new friends during his numerous walks. Highlights of the trip included a stop at The Great Indoors, seeing the movie “Thor” (good fare for fans of the comic book movie genre), and dinner at Chevy’s Mexican restaurant. Chevy’s makes a very good shrimp and crab enchilada, and most of their other food is above average as well. The margaritas were very good, and the fresh guacamole (made at the table) disappeared very rapidly into our cast of appreciative diners.
The trip also included a bit of time for photography, including a stop at the Phoenix Zoo. We were not able to tour the entire zoo, but did manage to see between a third and a half of it. What we saw indicated that a return visit to see the rest is in order. Most enclosures are large, and a number of them provided good opportunity for pictures – something that is not necessarily the standard at all zoos. There is ample shade, and water fountains were available as needed. Several options are available for food. The Zoo’s summer hours are 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., an obvious concession to the high temperatures typical of Phoenix at this time of year, and we wish we’d known they were open so early when we got up that day – in a classic vacation oversight, we forgot to check the night before. Since it was part of the party’s reaction to heat that drove us off, we’d have been better off getting there earlier than our 9-ish arrival. Still, we got the chance to see a number of animals and snap a few photos.
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- A pause for thought – Mandrill at the Phoenix Zoo
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- Siesta!
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- That’s right, the sign says “nocturnal.”
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- Oryx at the Phoenix Zoo
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- Go ahead, put your head right in here…
